5 Responses to The Size of Temptation

My recipe:
– search within driving distance of my home on Ebay for 21″ CRTs
– email the seller and ask if he’ll waive shipping for pickup
– bid low on that small subset who respond with a ‘yes’

After a few misses, I got a hit on an HP Ergo 1600 for $20.
The money I saved over an equivalent LCD will pay for the
higher power bills for a good while, until I can pick up a
widescreen LCD for $150ish or so. Sure, the LCD is pretty,
consumes less power and takes up less desk, but the price
difference with $20 is just too big. In six or eighteen
months I can retire the CRT for video-game play only.

Ugh, a 21″ CRT? Weighs a ton, uses way too much energy, requires a desk the size of an aircraft carrier. Not only that, but a 21″ CRT actually has the screen size of a 19″ LCD. Currently, you can get a Dell 19″ UltraSharp LCD for $213, according to this site.

After several 21+” CRT’s, I got the Dell 20″ LCD and there’s no way I’d go back. It’s sufficient for games, and I finally can use my desk for something other than a huge monitor.

I tried a couple of refurbished 20+” CRT’s from Fry’s Electronics when my first one died, and both had fairly major problems. It was such a hassle to take them back and bring up new ones that I just gave up and got the (much more expensive) LCD.

I also shop there on occasion and have been reasonably pleased with most of what I purchased. Stay away from the power tools, however. I would definitely go with the LCD. I’m just waiting for my CRT to conk out first (I’m cheap!).

I’ve generally had good luck with refurbished electronics. I was just trying to point out that it’s a much bigger pain to return a bad 21″ CRT than a bad PDA, for example, because the CRT is so heavy and bulky.